Woman believes her dog was attacked by another dog on purpose



MUKILTEO, Wash. -- A Snohomish County woman is turning to social media to warn fellow pet owners that her dog was attacked by another dog at the park -- and she thinks it was all for sport.

“Blaze ends up down there, and the dog's on top of him just tearing him up,” says Christine Awad Schmalz, as she points out the spot where her dog was attacked in 92nd Street Park in Mukilteo.

She knows she’s lucky that her dog Blaze only has a few scrapes and cuts on his back legs. She says she was walking him on the Fourth of July, when a large bull mastiff jumped on him.

“I started screaming for help, tried to pull the dog off. He was too heavy for me, well over 100 pounds. It was a nightmare to see my dog that helpless under a huge animal like that.”

But Christine says it wasn’t the dog that scared her, it was the dog’s owner. She said the man appeared to purposefully let his dog off its leash, when she was trying to get by him on the steep steps of the trail.

“I think he was looking for blood sport, I think he was looking for a dogfight. When I started to leave, he started to smile like this was humorous to him.”

She didn’t have her phone on her, so she couldn’t get a photo of the man. But she’s an artist, so she drew a sketch to share with police.

“He was around 5’7, very pale, very well dressed.”

She was hoping to put the sketch up in the park, but she has to get permission for that. So she’s posting it online, warning her neighbors to be on the lookout.

“I worry about other women especially being alone in parks. Because when I put it on the Snohomish County crime page, someone said it happened to them in Mill Creek.”

She hopes someone will recognize the man, and police can investigate. But in the meantime, she’s much more cautious when she takes Blaze for a walk through the park.

“I’m just really happy he's alive and well and there's just a few nicks and cuts.”

Christine says the bull mastiff’s owner was with a woman, two small children and a spaniel at the time of the attack.